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Juan C. Sanchez-Arias, MD, PhD
Trained as medical doctor and neuroscientist, I’m currently investigating the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying cardiac arrythmias and seizures associated with a novel genetic variant in an ion channel adapter protein combining model organism research, clinical genetics and computational biology.
Education
Doctoral of Philosophy in Neuroscience
University of Victoria - Division of Medical Sciences
Victoria, BC, Canada
2020 - 2015
- Dissertation: Pannexin 1 regulates dendritic spine formation.
Doctor of Medicine (Medico y Cirujano)
Universidad del Valle - School of Medicine
Cali, Valle, Colombia
2014 - 2007
- Pre-Diploma Rotatory Internship: Hospital Universitario del Valle ESE - Universidad del Valle. Cali, Valle. Colombia.
- Professional elective: Neurosurgery and Neurocritical Care. Department of Neurosurgery. Hospital Universitario del Valle ESE - Universidad del Valle. Cali, Valle. Colombia.
- Observership: Functional Neurosurgery. Department of Neurosurgery. University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System. University of Illinois at Chicago. Chicago, IL. USA. Supervisor: Dr. Konstantin Slavin.
Research Experience
Postdoctoral Fellow - Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Awardee
Division of Medical Sciences
University of Victoria
Current - 2020
- Area of study: Inherited arrhythmias, medical genetics, bioinformatics, ion channel biology, calcium homeostasis in cardiomyocytes.
- Roles: Project and data management, research execution, presentation of results, and grant and research writing.
- Techniques: Analyzed transcriptomics datasets using R and bioconductor tools (DESeq2, oligo, limma).
- Queried and visualized protien-protein interaction networks using BioGRID, STRING, and mentha APIs, R, and Cytoscape (BinGO, GeneMania).
- Visualized embryonic and adult mouse heart sections using immunohistochemistry and confoal microscopy.
Graduate Research Assistant
Division of Medical Sciences
Univesity of Victoria
2020 - 2015
- Area of study: Ion and metabolite channels, developmental neurobiology, channel trafficking, cytoskeletal dynamics, neural stem cells, advanced microscopy.
- Roles: Project and data management, research execution, presentation of results, and grant and research writing.
- Techniques: Developed and optimized methods to visualize excitatory synapses in cultured neurons (cytoskeleton immunocytochemistry, live cell imaging, super-resolution microscopy)
- Applied MATLAB tools to analyze calcium imaging data from cultured neuronal networks.
Research Medical Intern
Centro de Estudios Cerebrales
Universidad del Valle
2014 - 2013
- Area of study: functional neuroanatomy, cerebral cortex organization, traumatic brain injury, stroke, neuroprotection.
- Roles: Support and execution of experimental research on traumatic brain injury and ischemic stroke in rats.
- Techniques: immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy of astrocytic and interneuron markers in rat brain sections.
Undergraduate Medical Researcher
School of Public Health
Universida del Valle
2011 - 2010
- Area of study: Cardiovascular risk health, spinal cord injury, rehabilitation medicine, public health.
- Roles: Project management, data management with Epi Info, research execution, grant and research writing, and presentation of results to staskeholders.
- Supported clinical assessment of patients in the spinal cord injury clinic.